How the U.S. Quietly Winning the Hypersonic-Missile race over Russia and China

The United States, Russia, and China all tested new super-fast “hypersonic” munitions in 2018, escalating a global competition for weaponry that can strike farther and harder than ever before and potentially defeat existing defenses.

The Russian and Chinese hypersonics tests were the most dramatic. But the much quieter American trial pointed toward a much more immediate and widespread transformation of military capabilities than the Russians or Chinese are likely to achieve.

The world’s armies have long eyed faster munitions, especially faster munitions that also are maneuverable.

Swifter, nimbler rockets could strike with less warning and evade missile-defense systems. Speedier, more streamlined artillery shells could travel farther and impact with greater destructive force.

Russia, China and the United States, all are developing a wide array of new hypersonic-weapons, it’s telling which systems each country, has prioritized.

Usefulness and scalability are the American weapon’s major-advantages over the Russian and Chinese-weapons.

Russia and China with their showy demonstrations and bespoke technology, might appear to have pulled ahead in the early laps of the race for hypersonic-weapons. But the United States with its emphasis on a weapon that it can deploy quickly and actually use in a nonnuclearwar, ultimately could gain the military advantage.